Prime Minister Hun Sen vowed yesterday that the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) will decisively win the upcoming election and would rule the country for the government’s next five-year mandate.

Speaking at the opening of the National Football Center in Takeo province’s Bati district, Hun Sen said it was impossible that any other party would win the July 28 poll, and compared his party’s strategising to that of a football team.

“Of course we will win the election. Now I am speaking in the position of Prime Minister in the fourth mandate, and with just over a month to go, the election day will come, and the winner is obvious. It is clear that Hun Sen will be the Prime Minister,” he said.

“And I am still not too old even if I have held power as prime minister for 34 years,” he added.

“At the moment the CPP has arranged a team for the election. Hun Sen is the mid-fielder, but he can be moved forward to be a striker, or moved backwards to be a defender,” he said, emphasising his role as a player who both attacks and defends.

He also likened the party’s president Chea Sim to the team’s coach and placed honourable president Heng Samrin as the goalkeeper.

Opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party spokesman Yim Sovann said that if Hun Sen was so confident of winning the upcoming election, he should take part in a televised debate with opposition leaders about important issues.

“He is fighting alone in the ring without his rival,” he said, referring to self-exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who is yet to confirm whether he will return to Cambodia to contest the election.

“So if the CPP wins the election it would be meaningless,” Sovann said.